


To See Him Smile

by MontyPink



Category: The Dark Crystal (1982), The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (TV)
Genre: M/M, This happens LONG LONG LOOOONG before AOR, featuring a lot of terrible puns and jokes, kewl jokes 4 skeks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:21:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25878847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MontyPink/pseuds/MontyPink
Summary: So The Satirist walks into a hole and happens to stumble upon a treasure[r]
Relationships: skekshod & skekli, skekshod/skekli
Comments: 7
Kudos: 13





	To See Him Smile

SkekLi hated heat.

SkekLi hated walking.

So walking in the heat was something he utterly despised. Still it was the only way to get anywhere since he was banished.

No.

Not banished.

Strongly suggested that it would be wise for him to leave. This tended to happen a lot to him. He would come up with a fantastic routine and show it off. It wasn't his fault the others didn't know what funny was. They didn't like physical comedy so he stopped doing that. They didn't like like observational comedy. So again, he stopped doing that. Honestly why didn't they appreciated him? SkekLi did so much for them and asked for so little. Last night was even _**his**_ idea! 

He wiped his brow as he kept walking, to nowhere actually. He'd figure out where he was going when he found it. 

Last night started out good, amazing even. The satirist had suggested that they would invite the maudra's to the castle, all of them. As a show of good will. They would have a feast in their honor and have entertainment by gelfling, podlings and of course skeksis. SkekLi rarely played for a large audience so he spend forever trying to figure out his best material. 

Dinner was amazing,

Gelflings songs were pleasant.

The podling choir was... okay. Li never truly cared for their music but saw their comedic potential. He would love to add them to his routine but the others wouldn't let him. Not yet anyway. 

All was well. Until...

Until SkekLi tried to work in The Emperor's personal life into his jokes. He sat there, with lips pressed together, watching him like he imagined The Hunter looking at his prey. Li would lie if he didn't feel a little nervous and was ready to back off until the General, that foolish oaf.. opened his big dumb mouth.

**_"How does he know, sire, we were careful.."_ **

SkekLi felt the temperature in the room drop and everyone not a skeksis looked at the emperor who stood up and spoke a single word:

**"Out."**

He didn't sound angry, awfully tranquil even. Which told Li enough. He went into his private chambers, grabbed some stuff he thought he needed and left. 

A sharp pain in his foot disturbed his thoughts. Li grabbed it and hopped around on his good foot. 

"PITIFUL SKEKSO!" Li yelled in the general direction of the castle. "LEARN WHAT FUNNY IS YOU-" What ever insult he had planned would never see the light of day as the ground beneath him gave way and he fell into a large hole in the ground. 

"Ow..." 

His tail broke most of his fall but it was throbbing now. With the utmost care he tried to move and while it was painful it didn't seem broken. 

"Ugh this day..." SkekLi complained to no one but himself. He seemed to have walked right into a trap. Of course he did. If he wasn't making jokes the universe would be making a joke out of him. For a split second he thought SkekSo may have something to do with it but that would be quite impossible, like that boring brute would even think of leaving the castle. Seriously would a little sun kill you, SkekSo? 

First he tried calling for help.

No reaction.

Climbing didn't work, the hole was too smooth to get a good grip and he kept falling. He was the funny one, not the athletic one. 

A sudden clap of thunder made him jump out of his skin. 

"Don't..." 

But Thra didn't listen and began pouring her rain all over her flora and fauna. Li felt his clothes stick to his body and he gave the the side of the hole a strong kick with his good leg. Then it all went dark. A rock had come tumbling down and hit him straight in the head. The last thing he remembered was seeing someone looking at him at the edge of the hole he fell in.

\--

An indescribable throbbing woke him up, though he couldn't tell how much later.

Dammit UrLii.. couldn't you do ANYTHING against this headache at all.. weren't they supposed to be halves and thus.. partners? Of course only when it was convenient to Li, otherwise he had the same opinion that all skeksis had on their other halves. 

The satirist kept his eyes close and rubbed his head to try and relieve the pain when he realised he wasn't outside anymore. Slowly he opened one eye and looked around. It was a small and modest place but not gelfling. No, gelfling didn't have ceilings this high.

UrRu...?

Never in his entire life had Li gotten out of bed so fast. He got caught up in the blanket around him and did a face plant but he didn't care. He bared his teeth and was ready to attack when he saw not an UrRu was with him but a skeksis. 

There were 3 skeksis not present last night.

The Hunter because he was anti-social moron who used his excuse that he liked hunting so that he didn't have to live through his biggest fear; Social Interacion.

The Slave Master because how would that come across to the others. "Oh yeah this is Na, he just can't stop enslaving other beings."

And The Treasurer. Poor Pitiful Treasurer. No one would have him at the dinner table. Not even skekZok who seemed to like the broken one more than others. Too much of handful, shook when he ate, barely spoke and when he did it was mumbles and stutters. skekSo would have never allowed it. To let others see such a pathetic excuse for a skeksis... 

Not that he ever made that choice. The Treasurer left a long while ago. To where? No one really knew. No one cared. Everyone was too glad to be rid of him. To see him was to be reminded of mortality and that was the one thing not a single skeksis would accept; being mortal. 

But now he was here. Holding a bowl in his trembling hands, looking at the Satirist with big eyes full of fear. Even he, who was so full of jokes and laughter couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed by skekShod. 

They stood there in complete silence, Li waiting for Shod to say something and Shod waiting for Li to do the same. When nothing happened after a while Shod reached into the bowl he was holding and handed Li a dripping rag. "F-for your head.." 

Oh right.. his head. Li had forgotten all about the pain but now that Shod mentioned it it came back with a vengeance. He wobbled on his feet a bit and noticed that one of them was wrapped in a rag as well. All his wounds were tended for in fact. He grabbed the rag from Shod and sat down on the bed again and closed his eyes.

"G-gelfing found you in t-their trap." 

Was that a hint of enjoyment he could spot in the Treasurers voice? 

"A r-rock fell on you sssssssssso they went and g-got me. I've b-been taking care of you.." Shod voice was fragile and soft, he spoke like he was carefully picking each and every word. Not a surprise after what So did to him. If Li was treated that way he wouldn't speak freely either. 

"Thank you, Treasurer. That's very kind of you. To not leave me in a muddy hole to slowly drown to death. Appreciate it." Li spoke in a deadpan voice.

"Of course. Ssssssssskeksis help ssssssskeksis." This time Li obviously heard the disdain in the others voice. Got some unresolved issues there Shod? If Shod thought that Li was going to make a case for him to return to the castle then he was dead wrong. He was already on So's bad side and he wasn't going to make it worse. But Shod didn't want to return now, did he? He left because he wanted to... But he lacked The Hunter's strength and the Slave-Master's cunning.

What a freak.

"You m-must rest.. I'll return later." Shod bowed to Li and before Li could respond he had left, closing the door behind him. He took one good look around the other's shabby house and then like a light, went out again. 

\--

The smell of food lingered in the air and seduced SkekLi into waking up. It took him a few moments to remember where he was and with who. 

The clattering of something being put on a table made him awoke fully and he sat up to see Shod struggling to set a nice table. He had put on a candle, had found some wine and a cup to drink out off. Currently he was holding another bowl with a spoon and tried to carefully put it on there despite his trembling digits. 

Li threw the blanket back and got on his feet, the pain in his foot was almost gone and he could easily walk on it again. "Having dinner, Treasurer?" He asked when he saw that there was only food and drink for one person.

"F-for you.." That fragile voice again. "Sssssswamp water ssssssssoup... I m-made it." The taller one gestured towards the table. "W-wine it's Ssssssspriton. May do you g-good." 

For only a brief moment he felt bad for talking badly about skekShod. When he was the subject of his jokes the others listened and laughed and they always requested more. Many nights were spend with just talking about Shod and his... well his entire being. "How about you, aren't you eating?"

"I dine sssssssomwhere else... Ssssssso said I'm not allowed... r-remember?" 

Li cocked his head. There wasn't much emotion to be found within Shod. Not once had he seen him laugh or even smile. He always had this natural look with a slight sadness over him. Li laughed at everything, there wasn't a single hour that went by in which he didn't find something entertaining. Even skekZok who had a his scepter lodged up his ass found some things entertaining. He even laughed at the jokes Li made about Shod. If he was a better person he would probably tell Shod that. That his only friend in the world didn't actually care at all. But Li wanted to return to the castle some day and that meant staying away from Shod and not pissing off Zok. 

"I mean... he isn't here, right?" 

What did he just say? His eyes widened in shock at his own words. 

"Plus no one will find out." 

What was going on? Why was he talking like this? Did the other drug him? He doesn't remember being fed anything but maybe it was given to him while he slept? 

It didn't matter anyway, Shod raised a hand and shook his head no. He gave a bow again and left Li alone, yet again. 

"I'm trying to help you here.." He whispered after the other was long gone. A sigh and annoyance that Shod was the way he was before he sat down to eat. It tasted good.. perhaps the taller one had missed his calling and he should've been a cook. Maybe then he would've been allowed to stay. The food prepping area was deep in he bowels of the castle and if he served food he would be somewhat useful.

Eating in silence was an odd occurrence. Back in the castle there was always sounds, always noises, chatter, laughter and occasional fighting. 

The sound of his spoon hitting the bowl mixed with silence was deafening.

"AUGH!" The Satirist let out a frustrated yelp and grabbed the bowl, the wine and his cup and opened the door in which Shod has disappeared through. 

"Treasurer I-" Li started but he couldn't finish. He fell, face down onto the ground. Shod had taken his place right in front of the door, on the ground. He sat there with his tail curled around him and his own bowl on the ground before him. Li's soup was now covering the Treasurer's white hair and simple blue robes. It took a lot for Li not to laugh to see the Treasurer wearing the bowl as a hat now. Quickly focus on something else, he told himself.

"Were you eavesdropping on me?!"

"No." Shod made no attempts to remove the bowl from his head. The room was silence for a bit except for the dripping of liquid onto the ground. "W-waiting. In c-case you need ssssssomething.." 

Oh. 

SkekLi crawled up and kept crawling on his hands and knees till he reached the other. With one finger he lifted the bowl off and let it fall onto the ground. "Are you alright there?" 

For the very first time since forever Li spotted a change in expression from the Treasurer; confusion. Was he.. concerned for him? He didn't speak but nodded. 

"How is y-your head?" 

"Heh! I'll live, what's a little head injury amongst skeksis, am I right!?" Li said with a smile like he usually did after he said a joke, a genuinely one which slowly turned into panic. He kept his lips curled in a smile but his eyes were panicking. Did he really just say that? A little muffled scream escaped through his lips. What was he supposed to do? Say sorry? Wouldn't that make it worse?!

"Okay." Shod said simply as he got up. He found the bottle of wine that Li brought with him from the other room and wiped the dirt off. It's glass didn't smash, thankfully. It had been a gift from the current Maudra and he was planning on using it for a special occasion. The Treasurer didn't now much about Li, he hadn't even asked his name. But he was a Lord of the Crystal and he could have this special treat if he wanted. Shod found a new cup for him and poured it, spilling only a little. 

Li was still frozen in the same position, a pained smile on his face as he cursed himself for saying what he did. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Do you w-want this?" Shod put the cup in Li's field of vision to get his attention.

"I would honestly love nothing more right now." He grabbed it, his talons clicking against the material of the cup and drinking it all in one large gulp. He wished, no begged, the alcohol would do it's job fast, next time he would say something he could always blame it on the alcohol. Or he could just be quiet for once.

Except he was met with his biggest enemy; silence. He couldn't stand silence. If there was any to be found, you could bet your entire tithes that thrine that Li would say something to make it go away.

"Nice place you got here."

"A-agreed" 

What a conversation partner he was! He looked at Shod and a whole parade of emotions went through him; anger, pity, annoyance but then.. an idea. What if he could make the Treasurer smile? No one has ever done that before, at least to his knowledge. Maybe skekZok but what that Ritual-Creep and Shod did when no one was around was something he did not want to know. He already guessed right with His Jerkfulness skekSo and General Dumbass. 

What a great idea! He could pass the time and get something out of it. Plus it would be a great 'thank you' for letting him stay. He wasn't going to pay the Treasurer for this. No way. Go find your own money and valuable objects. 

"Hey Shod, can I call you Shod?" He didn't wait for an answer even though the other opened his beak to say something. "Shoddie, Shoddie Shod-Shod-Shod.. Do you like jokes?"

Again, Li had a lot but patience wasn't one of those things. The alcohol didn't help. He raised his glass again:

"What did the grape say when it got crushed?"

"Uh.."

"Nothing, it just let out a little wine, huh, huh!?" Li waited for the other to laugh but nothing happened.

"Hilarious. V-very funny." Shod looked sincere at least he even gave a little clap. 

"So the other day right? The collector comes back from a tithe then back at the castle, Lack realises they don't have their luggage anymore. They make a whole thing about it and start to argue with the Gelfling guard but they already lost that case." 

"..." 

"I see you don't have stairs.. I don't blame you I don't trust them either. They're always up to something!" He looked at Shod with big eyes and a smile, really waiting for a reaction. 

"You know, Shod. Sometimes I like to watch the Three Suns rise and set but I always get tired and call it a day." The Satirist gave the other a few gentle punches on the shoulder to coax him into a reaction. 

"Seriously? Nothing!? That one even made The Emperor chuckle and he finds nothing funny except the misfortune of others." 

"I am... w-well aware of that." 

Crap.

"Shod look I-... I've been drinking and I'm not thinking straight. I should've-"

"You don't h-have to be ssssssssorry." Shod played with a small shiny bead that was sewn on to his robes. "You sssssspeak true, don't y-you?"

"Just because it's true doesn't mean it needs to be said." Maybe it was the alcohol talking, or maybe it really was Li, at this point he didn't care. He finally got Shod talking. 

"Zok sssssssays-"

"Do you hear yourself, at all!? So says this, Zok says that. Who cares what they say. Can't you think of your own!? You live here alone by choice and you STILL follow their words, what is wrong with you!?" He snapped, the idea of making him laugh was still there like a ghost in his mind but he was frustrated with his host. If his goal was to make everyone pity him then goal achieved. But it was pathetic. Stop feeling so sorry for yourself, it is unbecoming. Li thought but didn't say it out loud. Not yet.

"My own i-ideas." The other spoke firmly. These weren't his own words. He was repeating something that was said to him, no doubt. "Are d-dangerous. I need Zok to g-guide me or else I g-get hurt again." Li watched how the other touched his own head. 

"That thing happened so long ago, just let it go by now-"

"It hurts, sssssssskekLi!" The sudden power behind the words of the other startled the Satirist. "It h-hurts and it w-wont sssssstop hurting no matter w-what!!" Drool was escaping from the corner of his mouth and Li felt a little guilty for pushing the other this far but not enough to stop. 

"Maybe if you stopped feeling so sorry for yourself.. It would get better." His own head was still throbbing and there was a small but gnawing voice in his head suggesting that maybe Shod was right and this was now his permanent state. 

"I don't w-want to hear that... from you." Shod rose to his full size. While he wasn't the tallest of them all, he was still taller than skekLi. "W-where were you!?" Shod poked the Satirist in his chest with force and the bells his tail rung. "Huh!? W-why didn't you sssssssstop him? He w-was not yet Emperor.. H-he had NO power over us t-then. But..." He was breathing so heavily, speaking so much and with such anger. He had seen this stance once before; when he kept bothering skekMal who had pinned him down and was squeezing his throat to make him shut up. Shod wasn't touching him but his body language... his tone of voice and expression; all the same. "You w-were afraid and content with l-letting me die. Ssssssssssooo tell me _**sssssssssatirist**_ why sssssshould I listen to **_you_**!?" 

Li wanted to answer the other, his mind was racing but no answer seemed good enough. 

"All you do... is sssssssit there in y-your castle, denying I am real." Then something broke and something rare happened. Something Li had never seen a single skeksis do; Shod was crying, It wasn't wailing, or sobbing but the tears were flowing from his eyes still. "I am real, Sssssssssatirist." He backed off and wrapped his arms around himself. "I am real... I am.." 

Never had Li realised that Shod knew how the others, and he as well, thought about him. As an uncomfortable truth. He too was guilty of trying to think of Shod as lesser, as not one of them. 

There was silence except sniffling and hiccups. He couldn't pull his gaze away from the other, who had descended onto the floor and wrapped his own tail around him and was slowly rocking himself. 

"Hey..." Li moved forward and gently grabbed Shod's face to make him look at him. "Hey it's okay... I know how you feel." 

The other's eyes basically yelled 'no you don't' but Shod himself kept quiet. 

"I mean. My title is the Satirist.. How do you think that makes me feel? The others see me as a joke and they don't even find me funny." He let gravity do it's work and let his body hit the floor, all while keeping hold of Shod's face, who didn't protest. "They don't take me seriously at all and when I do have a good idea someone steals it."

"Chamberlain?" Shod sniffed.

Li rolled his eyes and mimicked him.

_**"Hmmm, must not make such accusations now, dear Treasurer. Chamberlain not clever like you, simply borrowing ideas, yes? To tell emperor! Simply forgot to give credit! Forgive!! Please forgive!"** _

An unknown sound escaped Shod. It took Li a few seconds to realise what it was; a chuckle. He tried to cover his mouth but Li's own hands were in the way so he simply averted his gaze. 

"You know you are allowed to laugh at jokes, right?" Every so gently he let go of Shod's face and sat so that he was sitting next to him, shoulder to shoulder. 

"I know it's worth nothing to you now. But the reason I didn't do anything was because I was afraid. I don't want to die and you're right..." Hard as it was to admit. "If he was beating you then he wasn't beating me. I didn't visit or care to come to check on you because... I didn't want to get The Emperor's bad side. I still don't but I mess up sometimes..." Then another idea, better than the last ideas he had. 

"Don't you want to know why I was alone out there?"

"C-cause you were ssssstuck in a hole..?"

"Great guess! And technically the truth but no! So told me to leave.."

"B-banished!?" Shod turned to look at him so fast that the white locks that were peeking from under his bandana bounced with the force. 

"I mean.. No one every said that word... But you want to know why I was asked to leave?" 

The other looked at him with anticipation. He was even holding his breath. 

"I implied, and that is all I did, that our dear Emperor was perhaps seeing General you know... during nighttime." He made a few hand movements when Shod looked at him confused. "And that giant idiot actually confirmed it.." 

First there was shock of The Treasurer's face. Then a glint of entertainment in his eyes. He grabbed his own beak and tried as he might too keep it closed, to not let a fit of laughter escape his lips but he failed. 

His entire body shook as he laughed, tearing up again but this time from laughter. His laugh was warm and genuine. One worth working for, Li thought. Every time he thought Shod had calmed down he looked Li in the eyes again and started a new wave of laughter. 

"Oh my..." He finally said, out of breath and tear-faced. "Wow." 

"I know, right? I mean HE should be banished, not me but you know then we would probably have to deal with an even crankier skekSo. How anyone can be that stuck up while getting a lot of.." He cleared his throat. "... private time is beyond me." 

"M-maybe General is j-just bad at it." 

That stunned them both with silence. Shod looked away but now it was Li's turn to laugh not at Shod but with him. Li noticed their tails next together and curled his around The Treasurer's who did nothing to make Li stop. 

"You are so much more fun than I thought you were." He let his head rest on the other's shoulder but kept eye contact. "Prettier too.." 

He expected Shod to pull away, to get up and leave but he intertwined his fingers with Li's instead. 

"Y-you are not nearly as a-annoying as the o-others say you a-are." 

"THEY WHAT!?" He wanted to ask more but Shod's genuine laughter made any thoughts vanish like snow in the sun. 

"Funny.."

"B-better than that grape joke." He stuck out his tongue. 

"Seriously? That is is what you do with your new found confidence, insult me?" Li said in a playful tone as he wrestled the other to ground. Shod was frail and more bone than skin so it took little to no effort even for one as short as him. 

"It w-was pretty bad.." 

"It wasn't my best stuff, okay?" 

"Sssssso.. I'm not w-worth your b-best stuff?" 

If he had asked that question just an hour before, Li would have groaned, annoyed with the other's pity party. But Shod had a warm look over him and was wearing a smile. He was joking. 

He couldn't stop himself. He didn't want to stop himself. He moved closer to Shod's face and rubbed his beak against his, making sure he was gently stroking that sensitive part. If touching your tails together was a kiss, then touching your beaks there was full on making out. 

"You are worth so much more than my best stuff." 

**Author's Note:**

> I still don't know how these birds are supposed to kiss BUT I'LL FIGURE IT OUT
> 
> I may write more cause they my babes,


End file.
